CBRC staff profiles

	Melanie Wakefield, BA, Dip Appl Psych, MA(Applied Psych), PhD Director, CBRC Melanie is a behavioural scientist with qualifications from the University of Adelaide in South Australia. She has conducted research on health behaviour since 1983, working in Australia, England and the United States. Professor Wakefield has broad experience in the field of cancer control, although her particular research interests involve understanding media influences on smoking and determining the effects of smoke-free policies on smokers and non-smokers. Professor Wakefield is supported in part by a NHMRC Principal Research Fellowship.
	Victoria White, PhD Deputy Director, CBRC Vicki is a behavioural scientist with a Master's degree and PhD in Psychology and has been working on research related to health behaviour for over a decade. Her main areas of research interests include: understanding factors contributing to adolescents' and young adults' use of tobacco, changes in prevalence of tobacco use over time, understanding factors influencing the decision to have a mammogram, and the identifying factors that influence cancer patients' adjustment to their cancer and its treatment.
	Suzanne Dobbinson, PhD Senior Research Fellow Suzanne has a Master of Science degree and a PhD in Public Health and has been working in public health research for more than a decade. She completed her PhD with the School of Community Health at the University of New South Wales in 2000. She works closely with the staff of SunSmart, the skin cancer control program of The Cancer Council Victoria. Her research informs the development of the program through a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, formative, impact and outcome research. Her research interests relate to exploring the patterns and causes of sun protective and sun exposing behaviours, and include assessing the impact of strategies to improve environmental supports for sun protection.
	Helen Dixon, PhD Senior Research Fellow Helen is a Senior Research Fellow who has been working on research and evaluation in cancer prevention for over a decade. Her main areas of research interest are psychosocial determinants of health-related behaviour, and mass media research on public responses to health-related communications. Helen has a PhD in psychology from The University of Melbourne. For her PhD thesis, she investigated audience responses to the portrayal of tobacco use in popular movies. Helen's current projects are primarily in the fields of skin cancer prevention and obesity prevention, and involve assessing public reactions to health promotion programs and to health-related content in news and entertainment media.
	Mariko Carey, DPsych BSc(Hons) MAPS Senior Research Fellow (PROSPECT) Mariko completed a doctorate in health psychology at The University of Melbourne. Mariko's research interests include interventions for people with cancer, quality of health care and cancer survivorship. Her role with CBRC involves the development of systems for monitoring the experiences of people who have recently completed cancer treatment in Victoria. This project, Patient Experiences, an Ongoing Survey of People Experiencing Cancer Treatment (PROSPECT), is a joint initiative between CBRC and the Cancer Epidemiology Centre.
	Sarah Durkin, PhD Senior Research Fellow Sarah has a PhD in Psychology from The University of Melbourne, and has been working in health psychology and health promotion research for ten years. Sarah's PhD thesis examined the media's impact on body image and disordered eating. In the past four years Sarah's research has focused on examining the impact of mass media messages on health-related attitudes and behaviour change, especially as it applies to smoking. She works closely with the staff of Quit Victoria and her research examines and informs their advertising and policy programs. Her current research work is focused on examining the impact of anti-smoking advertising and news media on smoking attitudes and behaviors.
	Geoff Smith, PhD ASSAD Research Manager Geoff is a psychologist with a Masters degree and PhD from the Victoria University of Manchester. Geoff has experience working in various research areas such as sports psychology, cognitive gerontology, road safety, heart disease, and organ and tissue donation for transplantation. Geoff hopes to maintain the high standard of research and publications achieved by CBRC in previous ASSAD project surveys.
	Robyn Mullins, MEd PapScreen Research and Evaluation Co-ordinator Robyn is a behavioural scientist with a Master's degree in Education, and has been working in research and evaluation to do with health behaviour for more than a decade. Her main areas of interest are producing interventions and appropriate campaign messages to encourage under-screened women to present for regular, timely Pap screens and to discourage over-screened women from presenting too frequently, while maintaining the behaviour of those being screened appropriately.
	Claire Davey, BAppSc DCIS Study Manager Claire has worked in the public health field for nearly two decades, principally on projects concerned with cervical and breast cancer screening. Claire is currently coordinating a three-year study looking at the management of Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS). This Victorian study has three components: surveying breast cancer clinicians to determine their attitudes towards treatment recommendations for DCIS; surveying management practices of surgeons concerning new DCIS diagnoses in 2002/03 and 2006/07; surveying women diagnosed and treated for DCIS to determine their knowledge, information sources and participation in treatment decisions.
	Belinda Cerritelli, BAppSci (Hons) Research Projects Manager Belinda has an honours degree in Psychology and has been involved in a range of research programs and health promotion interventions over the past 7 years. She has previous project management, research and health promotion experience in the fields of parental smoking cessation, asthma, anorexia nervosa, cystic fibrosis and heart disease.
	Matt Spittal, PhD Research Fellow (Data Analysis) Matt has a doctorate in psychology from Victoria University of Wellington. He has a background in social policy research and a strong interest in population-based sample research. His main area of expertise is psychometric test development and multivariate data analysis.
	Jane Fletcher, GradDipAppPsych Senior Program Evaluator Jane is a psychologist with over 10 years experience in health and medical research. She has extensive experience in psycho-oncology, has lectured in psychology and statistics at both an undergraduate and postgraduate level, worked in clinical trial research, and continues to maintain a small private psychological practice. Jane is currently completing her PhD on the psychological impact of organ transplantation. Her position with CBRC involves the development and implementation of evaluation strategies for The Cancer Council Victoria. Jane is the current chair of the Victorian Cooperative Oncology Group Psycho-oncology Committee.
	Jen Makin, MSc SunSmart Research and Evaluation Manager Jen is a social researcher with an honours degree in psychology and a research masters in social policy, and has experience in research, monitoring and evaluation in health, education, gender and development. Her research interests include interrelationships between environment and behaviour, research in different cultural contexts, and research methods with children and young people. Her role at CBRC is to inform the development of the SunSmart program through a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, formative, impact and outcome research.
	Belinda Morley, PhD Obesity Research and Evaluation Manager Belinda has a PhD in Psychology from the University of Melbourne and has previously worked in the Program Evaluation Unit at the University of Melbourne's School of Population Health where she was a Research Fellow, evaluating state and commonwealth mental health programs as well as physical activity in primary care. Her main areas of interest are health psychology, program evaluation and health promotion. Her current research work involves behavioural research projects and program evaluation specific to obesity prevention.
	Molly McCarthy, BA(Hons) Quit Research and Evaluation Manager Molly graduated with a BA Hons (Psychology) from the University of Queensland and has managed research projects in areas including out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, drug and alcohol abuse, psychosocial interventions for women with breast cancer, and democratic engagement. Molly manages a program of research and evaluation to support the work of Quit Victoria, which includes monitoring smoking prevalence and examining the impact of policy and legislative changes. She is particularly interested in the determinants of behaviour change.
	Jenny Anderson, BA(Hons) PapScreen Research and Evaluation Officer Jenny has an Honours degree in Psychology from The University of Melbourne and is currently completing a PhD in Psychology at The University of Melbourne. Jenny has been involved in research-related positions for several years, including projects investigating body image and eating disorders in adolescent girls, and quality of life issues for men with prostate cancer. Her role at The Cancer Council Victoria involves the research and evaluation of behaviours related to cervical screening, targeting both women who over- and under-screen, GPs, health workers and multicultural groups.
	Daniella Germain, BPsych (Hons) Quit Research and Evaluation Officer Dany has a Bachelor of Psychology (Honours) from James Cook University and has previously worked in government settings as a social researcher. Her main areas of research interest include the influence the media has on young people's attitudes and behaviours in relation to body image, and risk-taking behaviours such as smoking. As Quit Research and Evaluation Officer she is responsible for developing, conducting, analysing and reporting on selected projects for Quit Victoria.
	Sandra Ieropoli, DPsych Bowel Cancer Support Projects Co-ordinator Sandra is a psychologist with a Doctor of Psychology from Deakin University. Her main area of research interest is in understanding the effects of psychological factors related to health and illness. Her position at CBRC involves the coordination of two projects that are investigating the special psychosocial needs of bowel cancer patients, with the aim of determining effective methods of support delivery that will reduce unmet needs of bowel cancer patients and increase general well-being.
	Michelle Grainger, BA (Hons) Research & Evaluation Officer (Patient Needs) Michelle has an honours degree in Psychology from the University of Otago in New Zealand, and is currently completing the requirements for her PhD from the same university. Her main areas of interest include the prevention and management of chronic diseases, public health, and various methods of facilitating and maintaining behavioural change. Michelle's work in CBRC involves coordinating research and evaluation projects that seek to improve the care, information and support provided to patients with cancer and their families.
	Jane Hayman, MSc Research Officer Jane has a Masters degree in Psychology. Since joining CBRC in 2001, she has been involved in research projects to establish the prevalence of health policies in sports clubs; smoking behaviour and alcohol use among secondary students; sun protection behaviours of secondary students; and referral of men newly diagnosed with cancer to the Cancer Information and Support Service. Jane was the National and State co-ordinator for the 2002 Australian Secondary Schools Alcohol and Drug Survey, and is currently completing reports for the most recent school survey that was conducted in 2005.
	Charles Warne, MPH Research Officer Charles has a Master of Public Health from Monash University majoring in International Health, and is currently completing a Master of Epidemiology at The University of Melbourne. He has a strong interest in multivariate data analysis, chronic and infectious disease epidemiology and international health. Charles is providing statistical analysis support for an NHMRC-funded study on media and policy influences on adolescent smoking, as well as a CCV-supported study of media influences on sun protection behaviours.
	Maree Scully, BA(Hons) Research Officer Maree has an Honours degree in Psychology from The University of Melbourne. Her main areas of interest are health promotion and health communication, particularly in relation to nutrition education and obesity prevention. Maree is currently working on a range of behavioural research projects in the area of diet, physical activity and body weight, as well as studies pertaining to the role of the media in sun protection behaviours.
	Kate Francis, MSc SunSmart Research and Evaluation Assistant Kate has recently completed her MSc thesis at the University of Melbourne. She also has a Bachelor of Science (University of Melbourne) and a Post Graduate Diploma in Psychology (Deakin University). Her main research areas of interest are health psychology, health promotion and education, and chronic disease self management.
	Emily Brennan, BSc(Hons) Quit Research and Evaluation Assistant Emily has an Honours degree in psychology at The University of Melbourne. Her thesis explored the influence of message frames, disease familiarity and stage-of-change on smokers' reactions to newspaper articles about smoking-related diseases. Emily is providing research support for a range of tobacco-related projects, including the Population Survey for Quit Victoria.
	Charity Jenkins, BSc(Hons) Data Processing Officer Charity is a mathematics graduate who is completing her honours year part-time at the University of Melbourne in the field of operations research. Charity works in CBRC mainly on survey programming for various research projects and on processing the subsequent data output.
	Anna Machlin, PostGrad Dip in Psych, BA Research Officer Anna has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Australia and a Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology from Monash University. She is currently completing a Doctorate of Psychology at the University of Melbourne. Anna is providing statistical support on the Global Cancer Survey project and PROSPECT research projects.
	Katherine Chisholm, BSc Team Assistant Katherine provides administrative support for the Centre.